


Learning to Swim

by aTheatrePotato



Category: TTS - Fandom, Tangled: The Series (Cartoon), tangled the series
Genre: Fear of Swimming, Fluffy, Gen, I Tried, I just want my freckled babies to be friends, I suck at editing my own work, Lots of callbacks from the movie and tv show oops, Oof I suck at tagging, Sibling-Like Bonding, Takes place before QFAD, it's mostly just fluffy bonding moments though, slight mention of neglect, sorry - Freeform, swimming lessons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 17:55:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15913329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aTheatrePotato/pseuds/aTheatrePotato
Summary: Rapunzel teaches Varian how to swim and a lot of fluffiness comes out of it.





	Learning to Swim

_“That’s it, you’re doing great! One step at a time.”_

_“M-Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. I’m- I’m not even entirely sure these gloves are, uh, waterproof and- OH, I JUST FELT SOMETHING TOUCH MY FOOT!”_

_“It’s okay, Varian. Just take my hands. You’ve got this.”_

Varian knew this was a bad idea from the start. Why did he think he could do this? This is all Eugene’s fault, wanting a stupid swim day. Why couldn’t he just have kept his mouth shut when he said he didn’t know how to swim? Oh gosh this is so embarrassing.

_“P-Princess, honestly I don’t really need to learn how to swim I mean there are lots of other animal species that can’t swim and they live just fine.”_

_“Varian, I know you’re scared, but trust me. You won’t get hurt, I promise.”_

Varian can’t stand the very thought of being completely submerged in water. Who knows what kind of dangers lurk in the depths of the water? And not to mention the bacteria!

_“Ugh, I shouldn’t even be here. This is so embarrassing.”_

Rapunzel had grown quite fond of the 14 year old boy they only met a few months ago. She saw him as kind of the little brother she never had. She was not about to let him feel bad about something that obviously needs to be learned in life at some point.

_“You know, Varian, I also didn’t learn how to swim until just recently. Eugene had to stay with me in the water for about an hour before I actually went into the water.”_

Well, this is new information, Varian thinks.

_“…Really?”_

_“Mhm.”_

_“That’s… surprising actually. I mean, I just thought with your spontaneous attitude and thirst for adventure and such… But, huh. Who would’ve thought.”_

Rapunzel giggles at Varian’s confusion. _“Ha yeah, I guess I can chalk that up to not being able to leave a 50 foot tower for 18 years and also my first experience with being in the water was a near-drowning one.”_

Varian quickly realizes how dumb he feels for not taking that into consideration sooner. _“Oh, right. Sorry, princess.”_

_“It’s Rapunzel. And it’s fine Varian, really there’s no need to apologize.”_

Ever since Varian met Rapunzel, he can’t help but feel safe around her. She’s almost like a big sister. It would’ve been nice having a sibling growing up. At least then he would have had someone else to talk to other than Rudiger.

 _“Okay,”_ Rapunzel starts _“are you ready?”_

Varian hesitates for a moment. _“Ready as I’ll ever be.”_

He takes hold of Rapunzel’s outstretched hands. He can do this.

Varian holds on tight to Rapunzel’s hands, almost as if they are a lifeline, ready to catch him if he should fall.

_“That’s it, Varian. Nice and slow. You’ve got this.”_

_“I’ve got this.”_ Varian repeats, not entirely sure if he’s confident in what he’s saying. Nonetheless, he continues to repeat it, hoping to at some point believe it himself.

Varian gradually sinks deeper into the chilly water. At least today was hot so it didn’t feel quite so bad. I guess having a swim day wasn’t an entirely bad idea. Varian just wishes he knew how to swim beforehand. 

As a kid, he always wanted to learn how to swim. He would always beg his dad to teach him how but the only remarks he got was “Not now” and “maybe some other time.” After growing tired of asking, Varian took on alchemy. He didn’t need to ask how to do it, all he had to do was read and experiment. Much more easier than trudging blindly into open water not knowing what to expect.

 

Oh, well, Varian thinks. At least she took me to a more secluded part of the river where no one else can watch me completely embarrass myself.

Rapunzel can sense that Varian is still tense. _“Varian,”_ she starts, _“I promise you, I will not let anything happen to you when you get into the water.”_ Varian gives her a hesitant look. _“And when I promise something, I never, ever, break that promise.”_ Another wavering look, before she adds with a clear and certain _“EVER.”_

Varian is still a little scared, but feels somewhat calmer when Rapunzel gives him her word. He takes one final deep breath before finally submerging himself into the cool water. 

_“P-princess, it’s getting harder for me to touch the ground!”_

_“I know, that’s perfectly normal. Now what I want you to do is when I count to 3, you’re going to start kicking your feet. Is that clear?”_

_“Kicking my feet? Like, when I get upset when one of my machines don’t work and I take out my frustration on them by kicking it?”_

_“Uh, well, I was thinking more of kicking a ball when you’re playing outside or something but, um yeah sure I guess that works.”_

Maybe telling Rapunzel that Varian also didn’t know how to play any outdoor games was a conversation for another time.

 _“Okay,”_ Rapunzel begins. _“One… two… three!”_

Varian starts thrashing his legs and feet underneath the water. He can feel himself lift up enough from the water to where his head completely meets the surface, but he can’t quite control his balance yet and begins to topple over to one side. Luckily, Rapunzel is much taller than Varian and can still reach her feet on the ground where they are, and catches him.

Varian’s anxiety starts to spark when he realizes he couldn’t control his balance in the water, but then feels that anxiety start to diminish when he feels a strong and comforting pair of arms help him right himself.

_“I told you,” Rapunzel says, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”_

Varian calms himself and smiles up towards the Princess, relieved to know that he is in the good and caring hands of not just royalty, but a friend as well.

_“Okay, that was a good test run. You wanna try it again?”_

The word “no” meant to come out of his mouth just because of the sheer anxiety that had spiked him when he almost lost his balance, but the word that did come out was _“Yes.”_

A wide and radiant smile formed across Rapunzel’s face and at that moment, Varian knew he was in safe hands.

It took a while for Varian to finally maneuver in the water. Of course, it became a little easier when Rapunzel taught him how to use his hands and his feet together when he swam. That’s not to say the process of that whole ordeal wasn’t easy though. 

_“There you go, Varian. You’ve almost got it—“_ **SPLASH**

_“No, Varian you have to kick and move your arms at the *same* time.”_

_“Come on, there’s gotta be SOME way I can change the alchemical makeup in here. I could make a substance that people can swim in that would FORCE them to stay afloat in the water!”_

_“Varian, I don’t care how smart you are, you are NOT going to change water of all things just because you don’t naturally float.”_

And of course, he can’t just learn to swim ABOVE the water. He had to learn how to hold his breath too. 

_“WAIT WAIT, I still don’t think I’m ready!”_

_“Varian we’ve gone through the entire procedure above the surface. You know exactly what to do. I won’t let anything bad happen, remember?"_

_“I know you taught me what to do but, what if I forget to plug my nose when I go under? Or what if I accidentally keep my mouth open and I take in too much water and I start drowning and—“_

_“Varian.” Rapunzel keeps her voice steady and balanced. “I know you can do this. And if something should happen I’ll be holding your free hand the whole time to pull you up.”_

It kinda gives Varian a sense of safety, knowing how calm and so sure about everything that she says.

_“Remember, you’re going to take a deep breath, plug your nose with your hand, close your eyes, and go underneath for 3 seconds. Then, I’ll pull you back up. Got it?”_

Varian feels his gut twist with nerves and anxiety. But he takes one last breath to calm him. He can trust Rapunzel. He can do this. _“Got it.”_

_“Okay,” Rapunzel begins. “On the count of 3.”_

Varian silently nods his head. He’s got this.

_“One…”_

Varian closes his eyes, letting the darkness behind his eyelids overcome him.

_“Two…”_

He takes a deep breath, feeling his heart rate slow down to a crawl.

_“Three!”_

Varian feels himself plunge into the frigid water. He knows he’s underneath the water, and yet he feels… calm. All of his fears and uneasiness suddenly vanishes, consumed by the tranquility of the water. And then, as quickly as it had happened, he had been pulled back up again.

He takes a gulp of fresh air and finally remembers his surroundings. He’s here, in the water, learning how to swim with the Princess of Corona of all people! Saying that he’s allowed to call her by her first name! It wasn’t until a hand was waving in front of his face that he realized that she had been trying to get his attention. 

_“Varian? Hello? Are you okay?”_

It only took a moment before Varian looked up at Rapunzel with the widest smile she’d ever seen. 

_“I… I did it. I actually did it!”_ He laughs excitedly before unthinkingly jumping onto Rapunzel to give her the biggest and most appreciative hug he could ever give.

_“Thank you Rapunzel, thank you so SO much!”_

It doesn’t take more than a stunned second before Rapunzel reciprocates the action. _“Aw, you’re welcome Varian! Anything for my little brother.”_

Varian pulls away for only a moment. _“…L-Little brother?”_

Rapunzel hopes she hasn’t just made a huge mistake. _“Well, yes.”_ She smiles awkwardly. “If that’s all right with you?”

Varian’s grin somehow appeared wider and brighter than before. He embraces her once again. _“Princess… it would be a dream come true.”_ Tears of joy begin to fall down his face as they embrace each other. 

And in that one moment, everything was perfect.

 

...And then that moment ended.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Thank you for reading this mess I created haha I spent SO long on this thing (totally not because of procrastination aha) and I just hope you enjoyed it! I'm still kind of an amateur at this so I'm still working on how to word things better and editing and all that, but I'm trying to get better. This takes place before Queen for a Day (like sometime after Great Expotations) and that little (callback to the movie) ending was just a reference to what happened right after QFAD. The inspiration for this actually goes to the amazing @chiscribbles4smiles who you can find on Tumblr [here](http://chiscribbles4smiles.tumblr.com/post/171113282383/thats-it-youre-doing-great-one-step-at-a)
> 
>  
> 
> As always feel free to comment and tell me how you enjoyed it and how I can improve ❤️


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